Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Chester still amending 2012 budget in November


Don’t tell me what your priorities are. Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what your priorities are.  Vice President Joe Biden

Some of the more popular blog posts were on the newly awarded firefighter contract back in September. 

There were a lot of comments, questions, finger pointing, and misinterpretations. Based on today’s Delaware Country Times article, I have to go back and ask my original question - How is the city going to pay for this contract, especially the nearly $1.5 million in retroactive pay?

Comments on the earlier posts assumes the city has put 5 years of firefighter salary in the bank waiting for this day to come. (People really think that way?)

Which jobs or city services will suffer as a result of shifting $1.5 million from one pot to another? No one dared to answer that question. I guess they assume that if the city agrees to the contract, they’ll find the money somewhere.

So, that brings us to page 4 of today’s Daily Times which states that Chester City Council amended the 2012 budget to reflect the financial responsibilities brought by new contracts with the city’s police and fire departments.

Here are my new questions if anyone dares to address them this time:
  1. It’s November. Ain’t it kind of late to be amending the 2012 budget AGAIN? Isn’t it time to be looking at a first draft of the 2013 budget?
  2. How much money is left in the 2012 budget?
  3. What was amended? I’ll assume the firefighter salary budget line item was increased but what could be decreased by $1.5 million dollars this late in the year? Or, where will Chester obtain $1.5 million in new revenue in the next 8 weeks?
I don’t expect any answers to these questions. I just thought I’d ask for amusement purposes. 

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9 comments:

  1. WHY ARE THEY LOANING CEDA $85,000.00 IS THAT NORMAL? I NEVER HEARD OF THAT WHEN MAYOR BUTLER WAS IN OFFICE. JUST WANT SOME ANSWERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    OH YEAH WHAT HAS LINDER DONE SINCE HE HAS BEEN MAYOR THAT I CAN BE PROUD OF? ALSO NAFIS YOU STATED THAT YOU HAVE A LOT OF BUSINESSES READY TO DO BUSINESS IN CHESTER ONCE YOU TOOK OFFICE! WHAT THE HELL HAS HAPPEN TO THE NEW BUSINESSES NAFIS?

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  2. The city will be broke soon .

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  3. Mayor and City Council present with no sense of knowledge as to how our city should move forward and continue to present a lack of accountability to the residents of the city that seated them. Total lack of character as public servants to the residents of Chester and the ironic part of it is who will hold them accountable for their lack of effort and communication to the public about issues such as the budget, the pending lawsuit between the Mayor and Council, family members who hold office in the city because of family ties yet they lack professional experience for the position they hold. Delaware County Council has a deadline to balance their budget for 2013 by Dec 12 with a probable 2.8 percent tax increase. However, Chester is still trying to figure out the 2012 budget. The Home Rule Charter does not support such backward actions pertaining to budget finalization but who of our elected officals at the legistlative and senate level will hold Chester City Mayor and Council accountable to the law ??? There is a total failure of accountability. How can we have a more prosperous future, when our leadership lacks the ability to effectively communicate and resolve issues within the city. Who wants to buy into the chaos, I don't believe new businesses want to be apart of the city's chaos and negative news... news reports which are fact based.

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  4. Mr. Roots, I am a little confused - Isn't the money that Mayor Linder tried to keep to pay Mr. Whitney's salary denied by council and given to Chester Redevelopment "CEDA"? If I am not getting my agencies mixed up, did CEDA get the money which was well over $100,000, and if so why are we now giving them $85,000. Is this $85,000 tax payers money?

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    1. I'm confused, too. The folks with the answers refuse to respond. I guess they prefer that we remain confused.

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  5. Well I won't be confused when it is time to vote them out of office! Why is it when some politicians get into their jobs they forget who they work for - THE TAX PAYERS! We, the people, surely are due more respect then this. I thought that I was putting in office more capable people then this, and if they didn't have the experience that they would at least hire personnel that could direct them. I guess I should look for a tax increase in 2013 - I am beginning to believe that it was a big mistake to vote Wendell out-of-office!

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  6. Kirkland has started a division in city gov and that is greed at it's best. Thank you Kirkland go scream at the children.....

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  7. kirkland won you slave dems for life

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